Adults-only ‘Absinthe’ takes over Los Angeles — PHOTOS
For the wild-and-wacky “Absinthe” producer The Gazillionaire, it was a drop in the bucket despite shelling out more than $10 million for a state-of-the-art helicopter to attend the premiere of his West Coast edition of “Absinthe,” and it was worth every penny.
“We came and we conquered,” he told me at the Los Angeles premiere at Staples Center, where a duplicate Spiegelworld tent to the one here at Caesars Palace was set up on the opposite Level 1. “I didn’t have to pay out a penny for the reviews,” he chortled.
Indeed, normally hard-boiled, cynical and often-savage critics gave the new L.A. version of “Absinthe” glowing reviews. “The must-see event of the spring,” raved Broadway World’s west coast editor, Ellen Dostal.
“An instant hit,” she added. “It used to be true that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But not anymore. Now L.A. audiences get a taste of Sin City right here in our own backyard with this in-your-face, adults-only production. Local audiences are just as crazy about ‘Absinthe’ as those lost in the casino haze of the desert.”
A Spiegelworld exec told me: “We brought it from Las Vegas, and it turned out to be more successful than we ever envisioned.” To accommodate The Gazillionaire, both locations have “Absinthe” playing different schedules, and the L.A. production features his newest assistant.
“I have Wanda in Las Vegas and Daisy Dibbles in Los Angeles, but that’s really because I refuse to share my chopper with anybody else,” The Gazillionaire explained. The wooden tent in L.A. seats more than 600 people, 100 more than the one here.
“Absinthe” is nearly 6 years old here and continues with sold-out crowds anxious to see the purposely offensive, political incorrect show. The L.A. run is set for five weeks, and many of the shows are sell-outs, indicating that it will be extended for a longer run.
Many thanks to our Las Vegas contributing photographer Erik Kabik for his opening-night coverage in L.A. The Gazillionaire has hired new acts for his circus of X-rated insanity. The show opens with a crazy chair-upon-chair tower to the top of the tent and is followed by the arrival of a new Green Fairy burlesque chanteuse.
Lady Bubblelicious twists, contorts and balances crazily inside a glass globe. The new acts include the balancing Silicone Valley Girls trio who also are dangerously beautiful — envision performing the splits 50 feet up before landing on the shoulders of your two sidekicks; burlesque dancer Misty West 88th Street; and the male/female duo The Flying Farquhars on aerial straps.
Two females known as Scissors in the Sky work together on a single hoop to hold each other by only their feet — remarkable and still erotically exotic. Madame Lash is the S&M dominatrix inside a large balloon, and Max Matterhorn amazes with his hand balancing on two poles.
The Moscow City Rollers still perform amazing feats on skates on the tiniest of stages — just 9 feet in diameter — with blades passing inches from the front row. She holds onto him only by a leather strap held from his mouth around her neck.
The Lost Boys with their unbelievable midair spins, leaps, twists and turns also thrill, along with the male duo Los Dos Tacos on the horizontal bars who close the 90 minutes of shocking, ribald humor.
Ellen said it best of all: “The extraordinary skill level of the artists and their unique combination of talents is astonishing. It doesn’t hurt that they’re also beautiful, cut to perfection, and choreographed for maximum emotional impact. A veritable smorgasbord of sensual delights, there is something for everyone.”
I was fascinated watching the L.A. audience go from shock to squeals of nervous approval to outright hysteria. Even if you are a Republican in such a Democratic stronghold, there was loud laughter from both sides of the political spectrum. My bet is that Hollywood movie moguls are already trying to figure out a way to translate the madness into a film sensation.
